theREALnews
Blogger's Note: To properly judge the all-is-well-with-U.S.-reactor-safety defense, the reader is advised to first read this column and this one.
Interestingly, the interviewer mentions that the World Trade Center Towers are regarded to have been destroyed by jetliner strikes (never mind the evidence they were packed with explosives) and should not therefore U.S. nuclear reactors be strengthened against airliner strikes? The industry-favorable debater said that the industry is doing all that is required of them by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is to do "analyses." According to the academic debater, no material changes have been done by the U.S. nuclear power industry because the NRC hasn't required them to do anything that costs them money. Still, the industry rep finishes by assessing probability of a Japan-like disaster in the U.S. as "beyond credible" (despite the fact that 23 reactors in the U.S. are identical to those in Fukashima).
Interestingly, the interviewer mentions that the World Trade Center Towers are regarded to have been destroyed by jetliner strikes (never mind the evidence they were packed with explosives) and should not therefore U.S. nuclear reactors be strengthened against airliner strikes? The industry-favorable debater said that the industry is doing all that is required of them by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is to do "analyses." According to the academic debater, no material changes have been done by the U.S. nuclear power industry because the NRC hasn't required them to do anything that costs them money. Still, the industry rep finishes by assessing probability of a Japan-like disaster in the U.S. as "beyond credible" (despite the fact that 23 reactors in the U.S. are identical to those in Fukashima).
March 19, 2011
Debate: Is US Nuclear Power Safe?
Is The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear industry prepared to deal with disaster?
Bio
Daphne Wysham is a Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and founder and host of Earthbeat, now airing on 61 public radio stations in the US and Canada. Eileen Supko began her career as a nuclear engineer at Carolina Power and Light Company. She is is a Vice President of Energy Resources International, Inc., a nuclear fuel consulting company in Washington, DC. For over 25 years, she has worked in the electric power industry, providing technical, economic, and policy expertise in all phases of nuclear fuel management to US and international companies. As well, between 1995 and 1997, she was the U.S. representative of a consultancy to the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding international experience with the storage of spent nuclear fuel. Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. He is the author of "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy" (2007) and he has served as a consultant on energy issues for agencies of the United Nations.
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